The present invention relates to electronic communication and, more specifically, to electronic messages.
Various types of electronic communication used to communicate electronic messages include electronic mail (e-mail), text messaging, instant messaging and posting on websites. The use of these types of electronic messages has grown significantly in recent decades as use of the Internet and mobile devices has grown. Indeed, in many countries communication electronic messages now takes place more frequently than voice communication.
Various communication protocols have been developed to facilitate the communication of electronic messages. Such protocols include the Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) and Messaging Application Programing Interface (MAPI), which support e-mail communication. Other protocols commonly used for communication of electronic messages include the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), the Simple Message Protocol (SMP), and the Short Message Service (SMS). Also, web sites (e.g., social networking sites, collaboration sites, web forums and blogs) accept electronic messages as posts, and activity streams are used to present multiple posts relevant to a person, group or topic.